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John J. McGilvra, U.S. Attorney to Washington Territory, letter to Colonel Thomas Cornelius, describing violations of treaty with Nez Perce and requesting protection for Nez Perce against white settlers, June 16, 1862

Colonel,Without being fully advised as to your authority to act in the premises, I deem it my duty to advise you of the condition of things upon the Nez Perces Reservation, hoping that if you do not feel authorized to take any active steps, you will lose no time in conferring with the proper officer. Having spent the last three weeks upon said Reservation, I have seen and know something of the real Condition of affairs there. I find that the Indian Intercourse Act is being flagrantly and openly violated in almost every particular. The lands of the Indians, even in some instances, their little farms are being taken from them, their stash is being stolen, intoxicating liquor is being sold and given to them without measure, and in one instance at least one of their number was shot down in cold blood by one of these white Robbers. Their condition is indeed wretched and they are almost

This letter describes the Nez Perce's conditions following the Treaty of 1855 in which Washington Territorial Governor, Isaac Stevens, reduced the lands of several Native American tribes and forced them to live on reservation lands. The letter also suggests that white settlers and miners were encroaching on Nez Perce lands. This activity later led the U.S. government to enter into a new treaty with the Nez Perce in 1863 in which the Nez Perce's 7.5 million acre reservation was reduced to .5 million acres. The treaty marked a division between those Nez Perce who had agreed to the treaty and those who did not sign the treaty, including notable figure Chief Joseph (c. 1840-1904). The conflict between the "non-treaty" Nez Perce and white settlers eventually led to the Nez Perce War of 1877 in which these Nez Perce alternately fled and fought the US Army until they were trapped at the Canadian border.

Colonel,Without being fully advised as to your authority to act in the premises, I deem it my duty to advise you of the condition of things upon the Nez Perces Reservation, hoping that if you do not feel authorized to take any active steps, you will lose no time in conferring with the proper officer. Having spent the last three weeks upon said Reservation, I have seen and know something of the real Condition of affairs there. I find that the Indian Intercourse Act is being flagrantly and openly violated in almost every particular. The lands of the Indians, even in some instances, their little farms are being taken from them, their stash is being stolen, intoxicating liquor is being sold and given to them without measure, and in one instance at least one of their number was shot down in cold blood by one of these white Robbers. Their condition is indeed wretched and they are almost